Bloom

"Bloom" is like that shiny, intriguing object that you might catch a glimpse of while walking on the beach. What at first seems beautiful and rare turns out to be startlingly common and mundane such as plastic or glass. In this case, the mundane is 4,400 earplugs, some of which were collected in Portland-area industrial worksites. "Bloom" is part of a large, multimedia installation called Second Skin that explores ideas about the clash of nature and culture.